Why Fallout series has the setting of 50s

[Brownstone]

I think I figured that out. The game wants to give you that nostalgia feeling, it wants you to miss the old times, the pre-war times.. And it can't give you that feeling with 2000s music because we are living that era right now, it won't feel like old times. So the game has set itself in 50s and it feels like too much time passed since the war, everything is nostalgic.

Sorry for my bad english, and what do you think?

[Pepe Silvia]

its set in what the 1950s thought the future would look like. Look up some of the Life Magazine stuff from the 50s and you will see why Fallout is the way that it is. Alternate Universe that diverged from our own post WWII

[Brownstone]

Originally posted by El Dudereno:

its set in what the 1950s thought the future would look like. Look up some of the Life Magazine stuff from the 50s and you will see why Fallout is the way that it is. Alternate Universe that diverged from our own post WWII

I know how it is, I was discussing the reason for it.

[Bobs]

The setting is like this because this was how people in the 1950's thought the future would be like. With atomic cars, robot helpers, and ray guns. People in the 1950s never thought of transistors which is why there's no advanced electronics in this version of the future.

[Brownstone]

Originally posted by Bobs:

The setting is like this because this was how people in the 1950's thought the future would be like. With atomic cars, robot helpers, and ray guns. People in the 1950s never thought of transistors which is why there's no advanced electronics in this version of the future.

You know the first game was not released in 1950s..

[Haunt Fox]

The 50s is also when people thought atomic power would be the wave of the future - they even envisioned each house having its own little reactor - unlimited free energy.

That's why things like cars and radios in Fallout are nuclear-powered.

I guess the generators are, too.

[Brownstone]

Originally posted by isengrim:

The 50s is also when people thought atomic power would be the wave of the future - they even envisioned each house having its own little reactor - unlimited free energy.

That's why things like cars and radios in Fallout are nuclear-powered.

I guess the generators are, too.

That was a good idea, makes sense.

[Amigo]

Probably because it's a fiction. You can make whatever you want. No real life weapons, cars, brands, etc.

[Haunt Fox]

Originally posted by Mr. Bumblefoot:

Originally posted by isengrim:

The 50s is also when people thought atomic power would be the wave of the future - they even envisioned each house having its own little reactor - unlimited free energy.

That's why things like cars and radios in Fallout are nuclear-powered.

I guess the generators are, too.

That was a good idea, makes sense.

Yes, well, Three Mile Island kind of damped Americans' enthusiasm for nuclear.

[Geoff]

Fallout is an alternate univserse to our own. They did not invent the (transistor) in Fallout univserse until 2067. We invented it in 1947 in our universe, which has led to the computing technology we have today. Reason why Fallout's computing is big and bulky. Fallout's culture stayed in the 1950's and early 60s. Reason why everything is advanced in 2077 by the time the bombs fall but they have that futuristic 50s/60s feel to them. Basically it's what the people in the 50s/early 60s thought the future would be, which is Fallout.

Also they mastered using nuclear energy in everything, atomic vehicles for example and made use of it by focusing on mechanical and robotic tehcnology. Mister Handy comes to mind and Laser/Plasma tech. Another reason why they have music from the 30s - 50s in the game to represent that the culture stayed the same since the 1950s.

[Bobs]

You have to say even the very crude computers in this version of the future would be impossible without transistors, but i guess we need to suspend some disbelief.

I think the setting is amazing. A "What if" alternate Earth where the transistor was never discovered and instead they focused on atomic energy.

[bukkie661]

Originally posted by isengrim:

The 50s is also when people thought atomic power would be the wave of the future - they even envisioned each house having its own little reactor - unlimited free energy.

That's why things like cars and radios in Fallout are nuclear-powered.

I guess the generators are, too.

There's a great book by Walt Disney from that era, 'Your friend the atom', which taught kids all they needed to know about atomic power and how it would make life better. I enherited that book from my stepfather some time ago. It's marvellous and I can recommend searching for it on line. Pretty sure there are scans of it.

Before the cold war era turned into this weapon-race in the 60's, America was actually not too keen on using atomic energy offensively and with the guilt of dropping two atomic bombs on Japan, they were seriously looking to use atomic energy for the good.

It wasn't supposed to be and the back-story of Fallout is taking things from there into the future. What if atomic energy have had a chance to shine in the civic-space?

[Brownstone]

I also always found the cars stupidly dangerous :D imagine what happens when a car accident happens :P

[IateTheCheshireCat]

I think Black Isle simply liked retrofuturism.

[Rootbeer Safety Team]

fallout has an alternate history setting so that they could make their own story without pissing off people too much.



That is of course unless you support Communist China, in which case the lore of fallout might piss you off..

even then, Real China modernized a bit since the 60s, the China in Fallout didn't, it basically remained a hardline Maoist country well into the 21st century. The only inconsistency they had was they never really rationally explained why the Soviet Union became so weak in the fallout lore, because the divergence of timelines only happened in the 50s or so.

[Lumicko]

Originally posted by Mr. Bumblefoot:

I also always found the cars stupidly dangerous :D imagine what happens when a car accident happens :P

Rofl... :D :D true mini nuke explosion